Veteran federal and state prosecutor Craig Nolan, 47, of Waterbury, has departed the United States Attorney’s Office for the Burlington law firm Sheehey Furlong & Behm P.C. He joined the firm on April 6, 2015 as a shareholder and director, focusing on complex civil litigation, white collar and serious felony criminal defense, and internal investigations. As part of his litigation practice, Nolan defends health care entities and professionals in malpractice actions and before administrative bodies, and represents businesses in employment actions. Nolan has tried more than twenty-five cases to juries in the federal and state courts of Vermont, and has appeared regularly before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Vermont Supreme Court.
Nolan stated, “After thirteen years serving the public as a prosecutor, I’m looking forward to new challenges presented by complex litigation in the private sector. I’m honored to join Sheehey – one of the oldest and most respected law firms in the region.” Attorney Eric Miller, a Sheehey shareholder and director, commented, “We’re thrilled to have Craig Nolan become a member of our firm. Craig’s extensive jury trial experience and management of complex investigations and cases as a federal and state prosecutor will greatly benefit our clients.”
Nolan served as Assistant United States Attorney in Burlington and Rutland from January 8, 2007 to April 4, 2015. He held the positions of Rutland Branch Chief and Lead Attorney for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. Nolan investigated and prosecuted financial, narcotics, violent and other crimes. Among his most notable cases was the capital prosecution of Michael Jacques for kidnapping, murder and child pornography production, resulting in imprisonment for life plus seventy years. Nolan also prosecuted Noel Delarosa, of Schenectady, New York, John Brooker, of Rutland, and more than twenty others for the largest powder cocaine conspiracy case in Vermont history. Delarosa and Brooker are serving twenty-five and seventeen years, respectively.
Nolan was State’s Attorney for Washington County from January 2005 to January 2007 and Deputy State’s Attorney for Lamoille County from March 2002 to January 2005. In a 2003 jury trial, Nolan and then-Lamoille County State’s Attorney Joel Page convicted Douglas Provost for his 2001 slaying of four persons in Belvidere. Provost was sentenced to 140 years imprisonment. In 2006, Nolan prosecuted Casey Langlois, of Roxbury, for repeated sexual assaults of a young boy, obtaining a sentence of twenty to sixty years split to serve ten.
Before becoming a prosecutor in 2002, Mr. Nolan litigated commercial disputes and represented physicians, other professionals, and employers as a litigation associate with leading law firms in Burlington, Vermont and Raleigh, North Carolina. Mr. Nolan clerked for the Honorable Fred I. Parker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Terrence W. Boyle of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Nolan graduated with honors from Dartmouth College in 1990. He earned his law degree with honors in 1995 from William & Mary Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal.
